A typical day as a Business Development Manager at Oradian

Working as a Business Development Manager at Oradian is a role like no other. It takes microfinance expertise, a mission-oriented mindset, ambition, patience, resilience and a lot of energy. Here, we take a look at what a typical day in the office looks like for our Manila-based Business Development Manager, Matija.

First, the long road there…

After a 4am wake-up on Monday morning, it’s not long before I’m jumping into an Uber and heading off to catch my flight from the Manila airport to Cebu. My journey is far from over once I land, I still need to take a taxi from the airport to the coast of Cebu and then a three-hour boat ride to the other side of the island.

Once I’m there, I hop on a tuk-tuk which takes me on the final leg of my journey to my prospective customer. After a few of these excursions, I have figured out my own strategy to show up looking and feeling at the top of my game.

“Welcoming a new financial institution into Oradian’s global community is gratifying, both in the moment and long after.”

Six hours into the day, the action really starts

I reach my destination at around 10am. I have been working on their cost-benefit analysis on my laptop all morning but now, it’s really go time. There are high expectations to move each lead from the sales process into our global community of financial institutions. Each meeting has to be effective because of the time and effort it takes to get there. For this particular meeting, I had just one hour scheduled with the CEO and IT Director.

In these types of meetings, my biggest challenge is to work with decision-makers to see technology as a key part of their financial institution’s business strategy. The institution’s technology strategy must enable them to reach their goals. For the sustainability of the institution, the core technology they use is a make or break decision for our prospective customers.

To build a partnership, preparation is key

Bringing a new financial institution into our community takes time, a lot of thought and preparation from me as a Business Development Manager. My aim is to build a relationship of trust between Oradian and the customer, to enable honest conversations and build a mutually beneficial relationship. I go through these key steps: a demo meeting, a workshop, an education session, a board meeting, another workshop, a negotiation, follow-up, proposal, pricing, preparing order forms, getting the order form signed and handing the customer over to Oradian’s Customer Success team.

The partnership makes it all worthwhile

Welcoming a new financial institution into Oradian’s global community is gratifying, both in the moment and long after. When I revisit our customers, I can see how their institution has transformed. I meet with staff and hear how their day-to-day lives are better because they are using Oradian’s technology. They save time, they leave their offices earlier and have more time for their families.

Being a part of this positive transformation brings me an immense amount of satisfaction, professionally and personally. This makes the long journeys and hours of preparation worth every minute.

“My aim is to build a relationship of trust between Oradian and the customer, to enable honest conversations and build a mutually beneficial relationship.”